UniCredit supports the “Earth Hour” again this year
- On Saturday 25 March at 20.30 CET, UniCredit will turn off the lights in 35 of its buildings across 12 Group countries for one hour
- At UniCredit Bank Austria's head office in Vienna, the lights have gone out every night since 2022 to save energy, and with its renewed participation in “Earth Hour” UniCredit Bank Austria is once again setting a sign for climate protection this year
- With its current energy-saving campaign #save11% with a variety of measures, UniCredit Bank Austria will reduce its own energy consumption by a further 11 percent
Tomorrow, on Saturday 25 March 2023 at 20:30 CET, the WWF's Earth Hour will be celebrated for the 17th time. Once again, the lights will go out for one hour in thousands of businesses, landmarks and millions of homes on all continents. UniCredit will also turn off the lights for one hour in a total of 35 bank buildings in 12 countries and thus participate in the “Earth Hour” again.
At UniCredit Bank Austria's head office at the Austria Campus in Vienna, the lights have gone out every night since 2022 in order to save energy. With its renewed participation in “Earth Hour”, UniCredit Bank Austria is once again setting a sign for climate protection this year.
Robert Zadrazil, CEO of UniCredit Bank Austria, emphasizes: “Sustainability plays a central role for us not only in the actual banking business, but also in our own actions as a company – keyword 'ecological footprint'. We have already reduced our carbon footprint enormously in recent years, cutting our CO2 emissions by approx. 85 percent in the period from 2008 to the end of 2022. And with our current energy saving campaign #save11%, we will reduce our own energy consumption by a further 11 per cent, in particular through targeted measures in the areas of lighting, heating and cooling or ventilation in our branches and at our head office.”
Fiona Melrose, Head of Group Strategy and ESG at UniCredit, said: “We take part in ‘Earth Hour’ each year as a clear demonstration of our strong efforts to support sustainability and take concerted action against climate change. ESG topics remain embedded in everything we do. In fact, we recently published our Net Zero targets on the first carbon intensive sectors for 2030: Oil & Gas, Power Generation and Automotive. We are also defining a Group roadmap to achieve Net Zero on our own emissions by 2030, leveraging on space optimization, energy efficiency, electricity from renewable sources and heating systems transformation.”
UniCredit is committed to a positive and sustainable transition to green energy that has as little impact on the environment and people as possible. The bank is continuously working to reduce its environmental footprint by procuring its electricity from renewable sources, improving the energy efficiency of its buildings and data centres, supporting its employees with more sustainable mobility solutions and sourcing from environmentally friendly suppliers. This approach is also supported by the implementation of Environmental Management Systems across the Group.
UniCredit's membership of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), including the PRB Commitment on Financial Health and Inclusion, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Network committed to the circular economy, is further evidence that ESG principles are embedded in all business areas and in the corporate culture of the bank. UniCredit also signed the Sustainable STEEL Principles and Finance for Biodiversity Pledge at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15).
In its Integrated Report 2022, UniCredit describes in detail how it creates sustainable value in line with its corporate motto “Empowering Communities to Progress”: https://financialreports.unicredit.eu/en/integrated-report
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UniCredit Bank Austria Media Relations
Matthias Raftl, Tel. +43 (0)5 05 05-52809
E-Mail: matthias.raftl@unicreditgroup.at